


Chances: Dive (into it)

by Eorendel



Series: These Spies Are Always Chasing (Es Su Onda) [4]
Category: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
Genre: Bonding, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fated to be together, Friendship/Love, Gaby is a BAMF, Gen, Illya is a cinnamon roll, M/M, Multi, Napoleon is an amazing cook, Overprotective, Spies & Secret Agents, everyone has a nice day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 14:49:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7578292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eorendel/pseuds/Eorendel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Here's a story: Falling in love isn't always like a face-plant against a wall. Sometimes, falling in love is like dandelion's plumed seeds carried by the wind to their destination.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chances: Dive (into it)

Illya wakes up to the feeling of two warm bodies pressed against him. He blinks but doesn't move, forcing himself to gain focus on his surroundings.

On his left, he finally recognizes Gaby's small frame. As usual, she is hogging the covers, also taking a large part of the single bed they are sharing. No matter what she says, she has terrible sleeping habits.

On his right, unsurprisingly, is Leo. He's sleeping on his side, his back to Illya, using Illya's arm as a pillow while holding Illya's forearm as a way to not fall off the bed. If Gaby is a hogger, Leo is anything but. It's unexpected how he tries to adapt to the space he's given, and it isn't much what with Gaby's quest to claim the entire bed (and half of Illya's body) and Illya himself, who isn't small at all.

While the sleeping habits of his partners aren't what he expected, Illya finds it oddly rather adorable. He stays still for one more moment, enjoying their presence shamelessly.

Seven on the dot and Gaby stirs from her slumber. Illya admires her amazing internal clock. Her ritual goes like this: She first buries her face in the closest surface available, this time Illya's shirt, and then looks at her surroundings with a yawn. Then, when she sees Illya or Leo, instead of greeting them with a 'good morning', she sleepily kisses their cheeks, and then ventures to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Since Gaby won't be coming back to bed, Illya takes the opportunity to get more comfortable. He also pulls Leo closer to the center of the bed. Leo doesn't even twitch. He's always dead to the world when they aren't on the schedule of a mission.

Unlike Gaby, Leo isn't an early riser, neither is he a happy person when he wakes (Illya and Gaby were surprised the first time they saw him wearing a terrifying scowl and emanating an air of annoyance and overall hate for everyone and everything first thing in the morning one day).

However, despite his apparent innate grumpiness and bad mood in the morning, Illya has found a way to reduce the level of displeasure in Leo.

Illya coaxes him to turn around, making him stay in a comfortable position  – Illya theorizes that Leo's bad mood in the morning comes directly as a result from his sleeping habits, no should feel good if they sleep bad  – and then he proceeds to massage Leo's arm, going from his shoulder to his wrist and then going back up to his nape.

When Leo sighs while Illya is rubbing his back, he knows he has accomplished his mission.

Gaby comes out of the steaming bathroom and begins to change, Illya detangles himself from the sleeping Leo, not before rearranging the brunet on the bed and covering him with a blanket.

Illya doesn't take much time changing, and neither does Gaby, so by the time he's ready in his clothes Gaby has brewed coffee, black with milk, and set a pastry on the side. She usually goes to stand beside the window to drink her own coffee, black with cream and sugar.

Some time later, depending on the time he truly fell asleep, Leo wakes up. He rubs his left eye with the back of his hand and stays sitting on the bed for a few minutes before heavily dragging himself to the bathroom.

Leo's showers are quicker than Illya and Gaby's but what time he gains showering he loses when he gets dressed. Once he's ready, and more awake, he goes to the kitchen.

"Have you two already eaten?" Leo asks aloud, while inspecting their fridge.

"Just coffee." Gaby says while she paints her nails. Illya is reading the newspaper but he nods in agreement.

Illya glances over as Leo wordlessly begins to make them brunch. Illya isn't particularly fond of Leo's fancy dishes but if there's a thing Gaby and him love, it’s Leo's simplest dishes. They have gone as far as to ask of Waverly to provide them with only the essential ingredients while they stay in places during a mission.

Gaby, still with cotton balls between her toes, pads towards the kitchen and expectantly waits beside Leo. Leo takes a fork and gives her a taste of the stir fry he's making, she chews and tastes it slowly.

"Delicious." She says with a decisive nod, satisfied, and then pads back to her seat.

Illya hasn't finished reading the newspaper, but when Leo says that the food is ready he sets it aside and goes to the small dining table in the living room.

The portions on the plates are the same for Gaby and and Leo while Illya's is twice as big. The drinks are milk for Illya, water for Gaby and wine for Leo. They start to eat at once. Illya has always wondered if they should thank Leo for the food, but the fond look he gives them when they've finished or asked for seconds tells him that he already knows.

Illya and Gaby play paper-rock-scissors to see who washes, who dries and set the dishes. So far, they are even on the chores.

After eating, they usually discuss what the next step is on their mission. But today, they are free after months of working non stop, so Leo suggests sightseeing, since neither Illya nor Gaby have really been in New York as tourists.

Gaby sometimes let them see her softer side, innocent and curious about everything she finds interesting: an old man who draws portraits in Central Park; the architecture of Upper East Side; or the way they walk from Times Square to Broadway. Illya adores that part of her. He knows Leo does too, and they have a silent agreement to protect that part of Gaby, even from herself.

They entertain themselves with the theatre for most of the day, then they go to a fancy restaurant; Le Rivage is a favorite of Napoleon’s with its warm and cozy atmosphere, and the cheery scenery paintings of little houses surrounded by colorful flowers of every kind near the beach shore where tiny old boats float on the sea. Illya and Gaby share a look, they would have preferred Leo's cooking instead of eating Escargot though.

It's almost sunset when they decide to see the Statue of Liberty. They squish in the back of a cab. One of them could have taken shotgun, but they haven't done that in months and don't have plans to stop any time soon.

The sunset dyes the sky golden-orange, Leo is telling Gaby some obscure fact about the Americans’ national pride. Illya hangs back, as he has done for the past hours, for the past months, for the past year.

Just because if they are taking the day off, doesn't mean THRUSH, or another evil organization they have confronted  in the past, are doing the same. Illya watches their backs, he takes the job of protecting them with open arms, he is trained for this, to check the faces and intentions of the people surrounding or passing them, to formulate a plan of escape being necessary, to look where no one else is looking.

A small pair of hands wrap around his wrist, Gaby pulls him forward with impressive strength  – for someone half his size. He stumbles to the rail dividing the ocean from the  shore, Gaby pastes herself on his left and Leo takes his right.

They both grin at him, Gaby sweetly and Leo smugly.

"What?" Illya feels his face heating up for unknown reasons.

"Oh, Peril." Leo says affectionately, gently squeezing his arm, "Relax."

Meanwhile, Gaby smacks Illya's back brusquely, "Stop being our bodyguard for a few minutes. Enjoy this, take what you can while you can."

"I agree with her." Leo says pressing closer to Illya's side, "You have two  _ dashingly beautiful  _ people beside you and you're looking at the bushes."

"We should feel insulted." Gaby says gravely, also pressing close to Illya.

"But we won't." Leo laughs lightly.

"Because you are you and we get it." Gaby wraps her arm behind Illya's back.

"Still, enjoy the sight with us?" Leo does the same, but his arm higher than Gaby's. "We’re willing to take the chance."

Illya notices it, he knows they aren't only talking about the day. They are also pointing to something dangerous, something that could drag them down to perdition. His logic is crystal clear, but if Illya's truly frank with himself he's tired of doing what his common sense says.

He lifts his both arms and wraps them around Leo and Gaby, making Leo huff as he loses a bit of air by the rough squeeze and Gaby laugh when he successfully tickles her side.

"Let's do something tonight." Illya says, his eyes looking at the darkening horizon. He feels Leo and Gaby relaxing against him, and he locks this moment away like a treasure.

**Author's Note:**

> Edited thanks to the lovely [TheVeilwalkerWitch](http://archiveofourown.org/users/TheVeilwalkerWitch/)


End file.
